Kochi Visit January 07 - 09, 2017 (Biennale Festival)

One of my wish list was to visit Kerala. However, it was kept on postponing it because of the other visits. Luckily and coincidentally, an official meeting had come up and I was asked to attend it. my joy knew no bound when I heard i was to visit Kochi...Joy because, it was an official trip....transport and stay was taken care by the office:)....Since the meeting was on Monday I decided to travel on Saturday. I thought of just initially exploring the city..Hence didn't extend my travel dates.

I tried to book the accommodation but couldn't get it. Most of the hotels were booked. Later on came to know it was because of the Biennale Festival which is held once in two years. I had never heard of this festival. My boss's friend suggested me to visit this festival and also suggested the stay at Casino hotel (Willingdon Island).

I reached the hotel at 11am. Location of the hotel was good. I was at the centre of the city..In the sense, it was far away from the main city (airport is closer) but not far away from Kochi fort area. Hotel is good. Rates reasonable. Food is good but not enough local cuisine (I think they need to cater to foreigners, hence the food was more towards continental). However the ambiance of the hotel was very nice, clean rooms, courteous staff. Overall it was good experience.

Since I had half a day at my disposal , I decided to check out the art festival "The Biennale". This festival is held once in two years (as the name suggests). It is a showcase of art, sculpture, paintings, documentaries, live performances, etc.

About the festival:

The exhibition is scattered over various halls, viz. Aspin wall House, Pepper House, David Hall, Durbar Hall, Anand Warehouse, Cabral Yard, MAP Project Space, etc.

I was dumbstruck with the way the artifacts, sculptures, paintings, music, live performances were showcased. It was one the best exhibition I have ever visited.

Few of them are mentioned below:

This is done with the hanging of simple lit bulbs. The bulbs were hanged in such a way that it showed the day, date and the year...

Pyramid

Pyramid

Entrance of the pyramid

The pyramid is covered with small round shaped pieces of cow dung from outside. Inside the pyramid it is covered with jute mats. It is almost a 100mtrs pitch dark tunnel. Speakers are installed behind the jute mats with a slow music in the background. It is a beautiful walk with soothing music in the background.

One piece made from glass

Inside is the image of man & women

Broken pieces of the glass while making the above object

Picture of man and women holding together can be seen when you look insude from a particular angle. Liked the idea of displaying the broken glasses along with the final article. Each broken piece of the glass was named with random alphabets. For eg. If the sculptor thought of number 4, then the piece of glass would be named with 4 alphabets taken randomly.

The image in the first picture is on the top and the same is reflected thru the glass in the second image on the floor.

Bathroom

Can you imagine what it is made up of???Keep guessing:)

paper rolled very finely....Beautiful artwork!!!

The projector was kept in such a angle that at one point the poem was reflected on the floor.

Live performance at the venue

This was one of the best performance I have seen in my life!!!!!!You have to hear and see to believe it........................................ 

Short stories and poems (in the above pic) were painted on the walls all over the places...Even if you roamed outside the halls (in and around the venue) you would get the feeling of the festival!!!!

One of the hall

Inside the hall..sitting arrangement made with bamboo

Brij Mohan Anand's painting (Buddha Bleeds) below....
The board is made up from wooden scrap furniture

Painting of Buddha Bleeds..

This is a painting with a difference......the cloth (top and the jeans) are real one!!!!!

The photographer tracked the building entrances where his height exactly matches with the height of the entrance.

I tried one quiz which was particularly an easy one but took lot of time....prize was a postcard painting of the painter....

There were about 30 cards which had questions on the theme, for eg. spices, places, drinks, food, etc. from GOA....I picked up spices...There are series of questions on the spices and the answers were all scattered over the hall..... there were huge paintings hung on the wall....posters on the table....the posters / painting would typically have the clues in the form of a market place shown, an INN, conversation between people...It was fun and time engaging!!! In the process, got to know the entire culture, of GOA!!

The above ones are just the snapshot of the festival. I would definitely recommend to check out this festival....And yes, since it is Kochi, all the more APT.....